Starry Sky
by Shiro No Kishidan
Summary: 25 years after the events of Persona 4, SEES and the Investigation team now live a normal day to day life. That may be true for them but what about their children?
1. Connect

A/N: Hello people! This is the start of chapter one of my Persona fic, Persona: Starry Sky. The first few chapters will be a little slow but the pace should increase with time. Gosh…I love this series. Anyways this is a Persona 3x4 fic. Some of the pairings are totally crack but I did it for story purposes. Also the main character's names from P3 and P4 are Minato Arisato, Hamuko Aragaki (Married), and Seta Souji. Anyways enjoy…

Disclaimer: I know nothing of P3 or P4. I do own my plot, OCs and ideas however.

Chapter 1: Connect

* * *

_People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define "reality". But what does it mean to be "correct" and "true"? Merely vague concepts…their reality may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?_

Itachi (To Sasuke)

_It's too addicting, it's too addicting, it's too addicting! Even for an information broker like me there are things completely unknown to me happening and happening and appearing before my eyes and lapsing back into unknown every single day. That is why I can never ever leave the places where humans abound! Humans, LOVE! I LOVE HUMANS! I LOVE YOU ALL! THAT'S WHY YOU ALL SHOULD LOVE ME TOO!_

Izaya Orihara

* * *

April 2nd, 2034 11:59 P.M.  
The Velvet Room  
_Minako's Fate_

"Welcome to the Velvet room. This is a place between mind and matter. Dreams and reality."

Minako blinked her eyes a few times and rubbed a like sleep out of her eyes. The last thing she remembered was talking with her mom, Yukiko and dad, Souji about school, and then rolling off to bed. _What's happening?_ She thought _I'm must be going crazy or something_. Her eyes focused a little more and she noticed that she was sitting in a plush blue chair in the middle of a planetarium. Constellations and planets slowly moved over her head. In front of her was a table and on the other side sat a wizened old man with a grin on his face and a tall young man dressed in blue standing behind him.

The old man continued speaking, "I am Igor and this is my attendant Theodore. Don't worry, you're not going crazy." Minako's facial expression turned very surprised but Igor continued without missing a beat, "The only people who can enter this room are people who have signed or are about to sign a contract. You are the first guest I have had in 22 years. In the next year you will face a great trail but do not be afraid. You are not alone. Let's see your fortune shall we."

Igor took out a deck of cards and put seven of them face down on the table, one in the middle and six others surrounding it. He flipped the first. "Ah…the tower. Impending calamity in the near future." He continued flipping cards explaining the meaning of each one, "Moon, deception shall manifest itself near you. The devil, a deceiver and a manifestation of evil. The Hanged man, a chance that death will come. Fortunately for you this can be avoided. Death, someone related to your trial will die. Who it is, I cannot say. The world…in all of this you will be surrounded by friends and together you can overcome." One card remained in the center. "The center card is your essence." He flipped it. "Rightfully so it's the fool. Don't be offended. This card represents a start. Infinite possibilities. It is aptly named the Wild Card. You will return here later in time after you have signed a sort of contract. Farewell."

With that Minako faded back into unconsciousness.

* * *

April 3rd, 2034, 7:45 A.M.  
Yasogami High, Gym  
_The Student Body President_

Mikado Arisato stood on the stage as he watched the students flow into the gym. They milled around and stood in clumps. The school, even in 25 years, hadn't bought any sort of chairs to seat their students. He looked at the face of each student, trying to name each one in his head. He would protect them. He wouldn't fail. Not this year. Not again. The head of school got up on stage and started to give his exhortation speech. Mikado stood passively. After the dean's long-winded speech had ended, the dean turned slightly and said, "And now we have an address of from the student body president."

Mikado walked up to the podium and by looking at him you couldn't tell he was the student body president. He was short, only about 5' 5". He walked in a slouch and looked rather nervous, his eyes flitting left and right. His hair was a dark shade of blue and it often hung in front of his eyes when he wasn't was pushing or blowing it out of his dark eyes. He straightened himself out and started speaking, "Hello fellow students. For the sake of time I'll keep this speech short. Please remember that as we go into this new school year that you should endeavor to do your best and try your hardest. I believe the headmaster covered everything else. Now for a quick service announcement. This year marks the first year of our newest student run committee, the reformation and disciplinary committee. Due to the recent rise in student delinquency, the school is taking a step to form this committee. The head of this committee is Tsubaki Iori. Application for this committee is selective and will give the benefit of fulfilling all of our school's service requirements if you are accepted. Thank you for paying attention. You're dismissed."

The students quickly flowed out of the gym and headed to their classroom.

* * *

April 3rd, 2034 8:15 A.M.  
Yasogami High Classroom 3-3  
_The Transfer Connection_

Hamuko stood up before in front of her class and called everyone to order. She hadn't changed much over the past twenty odd years since her fight against Nyx and still had her cheery demeanor and her incredible love for food. Her time at Gekkoukan High had convinced her to be a teacher if not just to prevent more injustices from people like Mr. Ekoda. She and her husband, Shinjiro, had moved out to Inaba at her brother's request and Hamuko had decided to teach English and also ended up as the homeroom teacher to class 3-3. She had two daughters, Fuu and Rin, and was loved by practically everyone who met her.

"Good Morning, class!" She said in her usually cheery manner. "Let's get started with roll call."

She listed off names, smiling when she called the name of her daughter, Fuu Aragaki and her nephew, Mikado Arisato. As she finished she heard a knock on the door. She walked over and opened it. Before her stood the headmaster and a young, muscular man with scarlet eyes and scraggly white hair that had red tips. Hiding her surprise under a mask of a pleasant smile, she asked politely, "To what do I owe the honor, headmaster?"

"I'm sorry I didn't get to you earlier but I just found out after student assembly that we have a student visiting today. Here is his file."

With that the headmaster walked out. She ushered the young man in and looked over the file. "Okay class this is" She looked down at the form, "Takeharu Kirijo." Her eyes widened _I can't get out of here until lunch…I need to call Mitsuru. Dang…_ but she continued, "He is the son of international boxing champion Akihiko Kirijo and business tycoon Mitsuru Kirijo. Won the national boxing championship last year. Please give him a warm welcome." She pointed to an empty seat in the next to Mikado. "Please sit over by Mikado in the back."

Takeharu nodded, "Okay."

Almost all of the girls at this point had swooned and those that hadn't swooned did when they heard his voice except for one, Fuu. Mother and daughter both simultaneously sighed and shook their heads. After placating her group of students, Hamuko started to teach, her mind wandering through memories that she long since forgotten.

* * *

April 3rd, 2034 9:00 A.M.  
Junes Headquarters, Inaba  
_The Queen and the Frog_

Yosuke scratched his head while he looked through the files once more. His entire day was scheduled with a giant meeting with a Mitsuru Kirijo and her husband Akihiko. The file folder said that she had taken over the Kirijo group after her father's mysterious death and brought the group into a new era of prosperity. Her husband, Akihiko, had taken the boxing world by storm and had crushed the competition but retired suddenly after realizing his wife was pregnant. He continued on as the group's ad man. His secretary entered his office, interrupting his thoughts, saying, "Sir, your all day is here in conference room 1."

"Ok I'm going, I'm going." He sighed as he walked out of the room. Yosuke had continued to carry the Junes flame after graduation. He quickly rose through the ranks to the point of taking over company at the age of 30. He also married his college sweetheart Chie and had a pair of twins. His reputation had people give him the nickname, the Junes Prince. Today he was meeting with Mitsuru in order to discuss business relations between the two companies. Entering the conference room, he greeted the couple and they immediately started talking business. Ideas ranging from stocks to trade options spilled out and were immediately dealt with. They continued talking for three hours and then Yosuke had lunch brought in. A loud flurry of music burst from Mitsuru's pocket.

_Windless night moonlight melts  
__My ghostly shadow to the lukewarm gloom  
__Nightly dance of bleeding swords  
__Reminds me that I still live _

The rest of the song was cut off as Mitsuru answered her phone.

"Hello, this is Mitsuru"

"It's me!"

"Hamuko!...um yes. How can I help you?"

"Why didn't you tell me you came to Inaba?"

"Wait…what?"

"I said why didn't you tell me that-" She was cut off.

"No no no. I heard you. I meant why is it important?"

"Well I met your son this morning."

"Oh…wait, this is where you're teaching?"

"Yep. Let's get together!"

"Actually, Akihiko and I are going out to dinner with the Junes CEO and his wife at some place called the Amagi Inn."

"Seriously?"

"Yes…why? Is there something I should know?"

"I'm actually friends with both the owners of the Amagi inn and Yosuke and his wife. Ask if our gang can join him."

"Gang…You mean that everyone else from SEES is here?"

"Well except Yukari but I'll call her anyways. We all live in Inaba. So go ask and let me know."

"Ok, Ok." She turned to Yosuke who at this point was very confused, "Hanamura-san I have a request."

* * *

A/N: And done…Well see you next time. Please review…_PLEASE_


	2. Irony of Fate

A/N: Welcome to Chapter 2. This chapter is the final set-up until the groups unite and then…MWAHAHAHA…Well anyways enjoy

Disclaimer: Persona is the property of Atlus

Chapter 2: Irony of Fate

* * *

_You don't need a special reason... for two groups of strangers to join forces._

Hachigen Ushoda, Musing about an alliance  
Winter, 2001

_I bet he's happy, because we hardly meet anybody with powers similar to ours. I feel like our family is growing._

Rojuro Otoribashi  
Winter, 2001

* * *

April 3rd, 2034 12:25 PM  
Orpheus' Harp, Shopping District, Inaba  
_Phone Tag Part 1_

Minato sat behind the cash register, waiting for customers, keeping his eye on the clock. Lunch break was in five minutes and he was starving. He could already smell the food as it wafted from the café area of the store. Although he was hungry, he was happy. The store he owned, Orpheus' Harp, was a music store cum bookstore cum café that he, Shinjiro, and Fuuka had put together. Minato with the help of his wife, Fuuka, and his sister and brother-in-law, Hamuko and Shinjiro, had bought a couple abandoned warehouses when he had moved to Inaba to help his cousin, Naoto when she got married. Even though he had bought the store, he was at a loss for the name. Fuuka had actually come up with the name as a bit of an inside joke but the name stuck and Minato thought it was great. Fuuka walked up to the counter with the last set of customers, shaking Minato from his food induced stupor. Minato quickly checked them out and then put up an out for lunch sign. Minato walked into the kitchen drooling and Shinjiro, seeing Minato's face, starting laughing.

"Man, you really must be hungry."

"Shinjiro. Just give me the food."

"Here you go."

Shinjiro handed Minato a plate with a sandwich and a cup of coffee and Minato sat down at one of the tables.

_If you wanna battle then I take it to the street  
__Where there's no rules  
__Take off the gloves ref please step down  
__Gotta prove my skillz so get down _

Annoyed, Minato answered his cell phone and with trying to sound irritated answered, "Hello."

"It's me."

"Hey sis. Is this important because I'm starving."

"Tell Fuuka and Shinjiro that we're going to going to the Amagi Inn tonight for dinner. Also no kids."

"Wha What?"

"Mitsuru's in town so she's paying for it."

"Oh."

"Not to mention some of my student's parents are going to be there so yeah can you call Yukari and Junpei." He winced when Hamuko mentioned Yukari. He had tried calling Yukari before but always hung up before she answered. He had too much regret to ever follow through with the call. "Akihiko's calling Ken and Yosuke's taking care his side of the guest list."

"Yosuke?"

Hamuko, ignoring him, continued, "Ok bye."

Minato scratched his head. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do…after he finished his sandwich.

* * *

April 3rd, 2034 12:35 P.M.  
Police Station, Dojima's Office, Inaba  
_Phone Tag Part 2_

Yukari sighed as she sluffed through a giant pile of paperwork. She had been looking for a job and finally had found a job as a secretary for a police chief named Ryotaro Dojima. The job hadn't looked very appealing but her husband said that it was a nice place to live so that was enough. Apparently her husband was good friends with the police chief.

_Want to be close…_

Her cell phone's caller ID read Minato. She froze, wondering whether this was some sort of cosmic joke. Minato hadn't called her in years. With trepidation, Yukari answered.

"Hello."

"Hello Yukari it's me Minato."

"Yes, I'm working but what do you need?" doing her best to keep any emotion out of her voice.

"Well the entire SEES crew is getting together and I was wondering if you and your husband want to come."

"Depends where it is."

"It's at a place called the Amagi Inn in Inaba."

"Wait…Inaba as in small town known only for said Inn and the fact that its specialty food is steak." Okay this was definitely a cosmic joke

"Umm…Yes…."

"I live there and let me guess, Orpheus' Harp is your store and the world isn't out to play some sort of cosmic joke." Yukari deadpanned.

"Yeah…" Minato sounded incredibly embarrassed at this point but he tried to brush over it, "So do you want to join us?"

"…Sure." Well this is awkward.

"Ok see you tonight." He hung up.

Yukari just sighed as she went back to work but not before she chucked a paperweight at the nearby wall.

* * *

April 3rd, 2034 12:40  
Orpheus' Harp, Shopping District, Inaba  
_Phone Tag Part 3_

"Well that was awkward…" Said Minato.

"It's ok Minato. I don't think anybody knew she was here." Fuuka responded, patting her despondent husband on the head.

"Call Junpei already. We need to open up shop." Shinjiro said brusquely as he walked behind the counter.

Sighing, Minato dialed the number and waited for a couple seconds. He the phone being answered.

_Feelin' no pressu-_ *Crash*

"Um…Hello…Junpei…" Said Minato somewhat alarmed with the noise in the background.

"Sorry, You got Chidori. I'm rather busy so if you have something to say hurry."

"Um…"

"Oh…had to turn off my music." She said as if explaining something obvious, "I have a deadline to meet for my editor so again hurry up."

"We're having a group dinner at Amagi Inn. Bring your husband because Mitsuru's paying." Minato knew that Chidori had no time for small talk so he hurried through the rest of the information.

"Done."

Minato shook his head as the line went dead.

* * *

April 3rd, 2034 12:37  
Police Station, General Briefing Room A, Inaba  
_Phone Tag Part 4_

Nanako stood in general briefing room A giving a briefing to two police officers for their next case, wincing when she heard a loud crashing noise that came from her father's office space. That new secretary had always been a little unstable. One of the police officers was her best friend, Chie Hanamura. The other was her husband, Ken Amada. She and Ken had met in college, both of them specializing in law and justice. The two of them with similar stories and backgrounds had quickly fallen in love with each other and married after college. Soon after, they were offered a job from none other than head detective Chie. Ken and Chie were assigned as partners while Nanako was assigned a desk job (probably from her overprotective dad).

_Right here Shadow / 10 o'clock direction  
__Seize the moment / destroy the nation  
__Your rhyme is slow motion / give me motivation  
__Freaked out now / and dead on arrival (what?) _

Ken answered his phone.

"Hello. This is Ken."

"It's me, Akihiko."

"Oh Aki! Um… I'm kinda busy right now so maybe I should call you later." Said Ken sounding both resigned and somewhat guilty. He then noticed Chie tapping her foot impatiently.

"No need to worry. Are you free tonight?"

"Yes." Chie got fed up with waiting and just grabbed the cell phone from Ken.

"Look. We're busy here with a briefing so spit it out." Nanako just shook her head. Chie had always had a short fuse.

"You're Ken's partner right? Your husband says hi." Akihiko said quite amused

"Oh you have got to be kidding." Nanako heard some rattling and trading of hands in the background.

"Hello dear. We're meeting at the Amagi Inn for dinner tonight. Please tell the Amada's to come as well, 'kay? Love you. Bye." Abruptly the phone hung up.

Silence blanketed the room for a few seconds and then without missing a beat Nanako just continued her briefing.

* * *

April 3rd, 2034 12:45  
Tatsumi Textiles, Shopping District  
_Phone Tag Part 5_

"Thank you for buying."

Kanji watched as his wife, Naoto, as he worked. He gladly gave up the clerk's position for his wife who was much better at not accidently looking like a gangster. He was more than content to work in the back with his thread and needle. Plus she looked so much better in the store's uniform kimono then he did. Naoto's phone went off and Kanji was amused to find himself watching Naoto moving her head back and forth to the rhythm of the song she used when she was speculating over the case. Realizing that it was her phone ringing, Naoto quite answered.

"Hello…oh hm…I don't think we're doing anything…see you tonight."

Having gotten used to Naoto getting random phone calls due to case related work, Kanji had already tuned her out and had continued working. He was surprised to find Naoto hovering behind him.

"Yes." He responded, looking up at his wife's face.

"Minato called."

"Oh, you mean your emo cousin."

"Yes." She put her fingers to her forehead, "And please don't call him that."

"Oh. Okay. So what'd he want anyways?"

"Dinner tonight at the Amagi Inn. Apparently some famous CEO friend of his is in town and she is paying for it. Yosuke want us to join him with the rest of the old Investigation Team so he and Chie wouldn't feel awkward with all of the CEO's friends."

"'Kay. We ain't doing anything so let go." Kanji went back to his needle and thread continuing to stitch another creation.

* * *

April 3rd, 2034 12:50  
Okina City  
_Phone Tag Part 6_

Rise walked through the Okina City strip mall with her long suffering husband who was holding all her bags in tow. Kou didn't look happy at all with the situation he was in but nevertheless pressed on although that didn't stop him from complaining, "Look I take a day off from work. More importantly the first day of school that I work at and you have me carry bags for you. Are you a sadist?"

"No I'm your wife." Rise stated flatly. And I'm might be a bit of a sadist but I won't admit that to anyone.

"Well n-"

_Your affection, Your affecti-_

Rise, used to the constant phone calls she got as an idol, whipped out her cell phone and answered, "Hello, Rise Kujikawa."

"Hey, Rise-chan." It was Yosuke.

"Oh, Yosuke, what's up?"

"We're having dinner at Seta's place tonight because I'm meeting with some out of town clients and her friends. You're invited. Bring your husband to if you want."

"You just want us to come so you don't feel awkward with your client's friends right?" Rise grinned.

"N-No, of course not. I just thought it would be good for the rest of the Investigation Team to get together. Heehehe."

"You're not fooling anyone but I'll be glad to come and eat dinner with you."

Yosuke sighed with relief, "Thank goodness. Okay see you tonight. Bye"

The call ended abruptly. Rise turned to her long-suffering husband.

"Looks like I'm going to have to cut this shopping trip short. We're going to dinner tonight."

Kou rejoiced as they walked to the train station.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading chapter 2. Next chapter will focus on the P3 and P4 characters then they'll drop out of the spotlight and we'll play meet the kids. Please review; thank you


	3. Full Moon Channel

A/N: Hello again. It's time for chapter 3. P3 meets P4. Let the sharing of notes begin

Disclaimer: I don't own Persona.

Chapter 3: Full Moon Channel

* * *

_Hey, have you heard of the midnight channel?_

Yosuke Hanamura  
22 years ago

_Would you believe me if I told you there was an hour between twelve and one?_

Shuji Ikutsuki  
25 years ago

* * *

April 3rd, 2034  
6:00 P.M. Amagi Inn, Inaba  
_Dinner for 3x4_

Today had been a good day for Chie. After her briefing with Nanako, she and Ken had tried to track down a criminal, just random two-bit petty thief. As they went to gather information in the shopping district they saw him, walking, in broad daylight, without a care in the world. They quickly arrested him and after writing up a quick report they were let off at three o' clock. The two had parted ways, she drove down to Junes headquarters, picked up her husband, and they drove home. After talking with her kids, two twins, she and Yosuke headed over to the Amagi Inn. Now, Chie was sitting at a large table with quite a varied group of people. Next to her was Yosuke who was chatting animatedly with a muscular man named Junpei and his wife Chidori, who was sitting across from him. Sitting on the other Chie was her best friend Yukiko, sporting a traditional Amagi Inn kimono, and Souji, her husband, talking to Kanji while his wife, Naoto was talking with her cousins, Minato and Hamuko and their spouses, Fuuka and Shinjiro. Chie had always liked the Arisato quartet because they were pleasant to be around but mostly because Shinjiro was the only person she knew who would serve steak in a café. She had picked up a habit of coffee drinking and found that Orpheus' Harp served a great cup of coffee and they also served steak. Eating Junes' steak got tiring after twenty years, even if it was free for her. On the other side of Yosuke sat Rise, was fawning over Ken and Nanako, and Kou who was just trying to keep his sanity. The Kirijo couple sat next to Ken and was quite happy to keep to themselves only commenting here or there. The pleasant conversation continued for awhile until,

_Take off the gloves ref please step down _

_Gotta prove my skillz so get down _

_My lyrical dempsey roll about to smack down now _

_Gotta shoot to kill and shoot the skill _

Minato answered his phone, "You're here….oh okay…I'll be right there."

He hung up. "Yukari and her husband are here. I'll go bring her in."

Souji also volunteered and the two walked out to the front.

* * *

April 3rd, 2034 6:10  
Amagi Inn, Inaba  
_Two-Faced_

Souji watched as Minato went to go greet his friend Yukari.

As soon as she hopped out of the car, Minato walked over to her, "I'm so sorry." He clapped his hands together. "I had no idea you moved back."

"I still thought you were dead." Replied Yukari, obviously nonchalant. Souji winced. _She reminds me of Rise…._ Suddenly her voice flipped, "Oh you have to meet my husband! Come on already get out of the car already."

A muffled voice came from the inside the car, "Do I have to? I'd rather go home now."

Souji's blood froze_. Wait…It can't be…_

Yukari just snapped back. "I don't what your reason is. Just come on already."

"Ugh…fine but it's not my fault if we get kicked out." The voice responded

Souji's suspicions were confirmed when his former nemesis, Tohru Adachi, walked out of the car.

Souji, in a perfect impersonation of his uncle's voice, shouted, "Adachi!"

The former cop immediately started apologizing, "Sorry sir, I'm comi- Wait, what am doing?"

At this point Minato and Yukari were staring at Souji rather incredulously so he quickly thought up an explanation, "He was my Uncle's gopher at the police station. He used to come over all the time and my uncle would always yell at him."

They both nodded sagely and the four walked back in.

_I just hope that no one goes crazy on Adachi._ Souji thought as they walked back in.

The group walked in, everyone sat down and to Souji's surprise no one attacked Adachi when he walked although they all looked to him for a sign to do something. Souji just shook his head and everything went back to normal.

* * *

April 3rd, 2034 8:00 P.M.  
Amagi Inn, Inaba  
_Cross Edge_

Fuuka sighed as she watched the group. Dinner had passed quickly for the group albeit the Yosuke's friends giving Adachi the occasional glare or evil eye. The environment was far too tense for her enjoyment. Suddenly everyone's attention was drawn to the small TV sitting in the corner of the dinner room which started shaking. A giant teddy bear fell out of the TV with a thump.

In a whiny voice it called out, "Sensei! You're having a party and you didn't invite me... I'm beary sad."

Sounds of people facepalming were heard around the room as every member of the Investigation Team looked on with a shameful face. The other who didn't know Teddie just stared incredulously. Silence reigned for a couple seconds then all hell broke loose or it would have if not for Souji's quick thinking.

He spoke up quickly, "Before everyone starts yelling about a giant teddy bear falling out of the TV please remember that we have other guests and we don't want to cause mass panic or hysteria."

The confused members of SEES stared at him with their faces full of disbelief while they waited for an explanation as the remaining members of the Investigation Team walked over to the teddy bear and told him something along the lines of , "Shut up or die."

Souji sighed, "Do you really want to why this teddy bear is here?

They all nodded in a agreement.

"Okay… but I doubt you'll believe me." Souji began, "The story started twenty three years ago with a serial murder case now known as Hanged Man case."

"I remember that case." Mused Mitsuru, "The Kirijo Group was scrambling to find a new news announcer after one of the TV companies had mentioned losing one in a bizarre suicide case."

Souji nodded, " Yes that was the same case. The case involved our group" He pointed to the members of the Investigation Team, "quite heavily so forgive me if I occasionally tangent. I came to Inaba as a transfer student 23 years ago at the beginning of April. My parents had transferred to work in another country and had me go to board with my uncle, Ryotaro Dojima. I'm sure some of you know him." Ken and Yukari both nodded. "Anyways the day after I arrived Mayumi Yamano was found dead hanging upside down on the wires of somebody's roof. Soon afterwards I learned about the midnight channel from Yosuke. Do you want to take over?"

Yosuke just stared at him but continued, " Maybe you've heard the rumor of the midnight channel? You know the one where you look at a TV at midnight when it's raining and your lover shows up on the screen. Well turns out that the rumor was true but not in the manner that most thought. Anyways me, Souji, and Chie decided to check it out. Then Seta told us the day after we all looked at the midnight channel that his hand went through the TV. Of course neither Chie nor I believed him but we ended up in the Junes' electronic department to find Chie a TV. Souji put his hand into the TV and down we fell into the TV." The members of SEES looked at him like he was insane but he continued anyways, "We found ourselves stranded in this yellowish TV production studio and of course we tried to find our way out. Eventually we ran into the giant teddy bear over there whose name was Teddie. With his help we escaped. The next day" Yosuke's voice tightened just a little, "a girl, Saki Konishi, was found dead the exact same way Mayumi Yamano was. I decided that the TV world was related to this and Souji and I visited the TV world. I think you'd better take over Souji."

Nodding with acknowledgement, Souji took over, "In the TV world we found where Saki Konishi had died. It was a small recreation of the shopping district made near the entrance. It was there we were attacked by monsters we called shadows." There was a visible change in the facial expression of SEES but they didn't say anything, "They attacked us and got a power called Persona. After fighting the shadows off we entered were Konishi liquors was. Then Yosuke's shadow appeared. You see, in the TV world, peoples' suppressed emotions get turned into shadows. The shadow then proceeds to mock them to the point of the person denying their shadow which causes the shadow to transform into a monster which then tries to kill their original making them end up dead hanging upside in the real world. However, if the person accepts their shadow, then it turns into a Persona. Anyways after I saved Yosuke, we figured out that the people who appeared on the midnight channel were the next victims. So we tried our best to save them from whoever was throwing people into the TV world. This continued for a while as we would save people who fell into the TV and they would gain their Persona." He gestured to everyone except Nanako and Kou, "We finally found a suspect in Taro Namatame, a former member of the DIET. We finally found him after he kidnapped Nanako and jumped into the TV. We followed him, saved Nanako and beat Namatame but we had the wrong guy. It turns out that he was just throwing people into the TV in a misguided attempt to save them."

Junpei looked confused, "Wait…what?"

Souji answered, "He was told after the first two murders that he could save the people from getting murdered if he threw them into the TV."

"Well then why you guys?" Junpei queried, "I mean there are thousands of people and you guys don't really fit a specific pattern?"

"Each of us featured on TV and were under a large amount of media scrutiny." Naoto replied, "I showed up as a hotshot detective. Yukiko was a worker at the hotel were Mayumi Yamano was last seen. Rise was a retiring idol. Kanji was featured as some sort of punk gangster." She snorted with disgust, "Taro was informed that every person on TV with large media scrutiny was to be killed and that's why we were thrown into the TV."

Souji picked up, "After this we tried to find out who gave Namatame this information. Adachi I think you should explain this part."

Adachi sighed, "I gave this information to Namatame because I committed the first two murders of the two girls, Mayumi and Saki. Namatame noticed this and called the police but I told him that he could save people by throwing them into the TV. I tried to make it so that everyone in the world would turn into shadows. If I achieved that then there would be no pain or suffering. Seta's group caught me and after defeating me, turned me into the police. I confessed for the murders but after conviction I was released from prison a month later with them saying that there was no way I responsible for the murders and if I still though so then I should be locked up in an insane asylum."

"Why?" Minato asked, "I mean you confessed to the murders. Shouldn't that be enough?"

"See, that was the problem. A ton of people started confessing to the murders."

"What? That's stupid." Said Junpei, interrupting.

Adachi just grinned at him, "No seriously, look at the case. Two people are murdered, hung upside down on TV antennas, with no cause for the murder. Any assassin or crime cartel would love to claim to be able to do that because nobody would have anyway of tracing it back to them. The police, realizing this, just reported gave an official report of this being a suicide case to scare the people off and close the case; this meant releasing me from prison."

Souji picked up off of Adachi's remark, "After catching Adachi, we took it easy for three months waiting for school to end. However we gather one more time to discuss a letter I had received from Adachi claiming that there was some mastermind behind all of this and that it was the entity that had given me, him, and Namatame the power to put people into the TV. The entity was the deity Izanami. Izanami challenged us and eventually we found her and defeated her. She claimed that she would stop interfering with mankind although she could no longer guarantee our happiness. Crazy huh…"

At this point SEES was staring at him slack-jawed until Minato shook himself clear and said something that shocked the entire investigation team, "So we're not the only group of Persona-users."

Minato just held a hand up before the investigation team could make noise. "Thirty five years ago, The Kirijo Group had discovered beings known as shadows. In order to study them they set up a headquarters at the then recently opened island known as Tatsumi Port Island. At that island underneath my high school, Gekkoukan high, they built a giant research facility. One night they tried to fuse shadows trying to make an energy source that could affect the time space continuum. Instead they had a catastrophic failure and the lab exploded totaling the high school and releasing 13 very dangerous but incredibly weakened shadows. Ten years later I ended up at Tatsumi Port Island and was attacked a few days later during a time called the dark hour. It was what we called the 25th hour of the day where normal people were turned into coffins and those who were not were preyed on by shadows unless they had the potential of the power of persona. Over the course of about seven months me and my team, called SEES" He gestured towards his former team members, "Fought against shadows. SEES was registered as a school club standing for Special Extracurricular Execution Squad. I never knew how we got away with that name but whatever. Anyways, we had a club advisor by the name of Shuji Ikutsuki who acted as our mission control and base command. Now two big things happened. First was the discovery of Tartarus."

Yosuke interrupted asking, "What's that, a brand of toothpaste?"

Minato, having the strangest sense of déjà vu, ignored him and continued explaining, "During the dark hour Gekkoukan High turned into a giant tower that stretched into the sky for over 200 floors. We had to scale to try to reach the top of the structure and learn more. The other thing that happened was that we were attacked by shadows on the full moon of every month, dealing with the escaped shadow of ten years ago. Occasionally we were hindered by a group of rogue persona users but we fought them off. After defeating 12 of them, We figured that all of the dark hour was over because we thought only 12 shadows escaped not 13 and that we had killed them all. Turns out we were wrong. Ikutsuki betrayed us and tried to kill us all saying that we were the last people in his way. Thankfully we escaped but Mitsuru's father was killed in the process. After that we met the 13th shadow who turned out to be a womanizing student by the name of Ryoji. We didn't know this but he eventually regained his memory and informed us that know that the 12 shadows were gone there was nothing holding the goddess of night, Nyx, from killing the whole world. We then fought Nyx and lost. I sacrificed my life and turned myself into a giant seal that held Nyx back from destroying the world."

Naoto, being the smartest of the bunch, interrupted Minato as a few fact didn't add up, "Wait why did Nyx want to destroy the world and if you died then why are you still here?"

Minato dutifully answered, "Nyx normally would interfere with human affairs but she had her hand forced by millions of humans who had succumbed to their negative emotions, lost meaning in life, and wanted to die. She came to kill everything. As for why I'm alive, I don't know. I was released back into this world March 31st 2013."

"When we defeated Izanami…" mused Naoto.

Ahihiko spoke up, "Wait how does that affect us?"

Naoto breathed in slowly and then fired off an explanation at rapid-fire pace."Izanami said that humans never wanted the truth and were always more content looking at others, never at themselves. They would always hide things and never seek the truth. When we defeated her we proved that man didn't always look away from the truth. The TV world was turned into a beautiful field with flowers and rivers. Man's true desire wasn't death but for the world to be a better place. Which meant that Nyx didn't have to destroy the world because man desire the betterment of the world."

Silence reigned after Naoto's revelation until Yosuke spoke up, "Okay…well this means that everyone here is a persona user, right? Well what about our kids? I mean. A whole bunch of Persona user hooked up, had kids, and then what? Do they have the potential to be persona users?"

"Yes." Responded Mitsuru, "Actually anyone has the potential to be a persona user but them probably more so. We need to watch them."

Souji, looking rather uncomfortable, interrupted, "Actually, Arisato-san, Iori-san, Aragaki-san your oldest kids are persona users."

Souji's revelation stunned the entire room. He continued before anyone could speak, "Aragaki-san, remember when your daughter lost her left eye a year ago?"

"Tch, Of course. Pretty hard to forget." Shinjiro practically spat.

"Well those two saved her from losing her life that day. Tsubaki and Mikado had gotten together after school one day last year to look up something at the school computer for a project I had assigned for their philosophy class and happened across a website known as Nicaea. The sight apparently predicted when one's friends were supposed to die so they signed up. As soon as they signed up, they got a text showing Fuu dead in front of the temple in the shopping district. Freaked out by this they grabbed me as I was nearby and dragged me to help save their friend. At the shopping district we actually found nothing. When we reached the front of the old shrine they ran past me, through the gates, and they disappeared. I waited and about five minutes later they reappeared Mikado holding Fuu and Tsubaki close behind him they all collapsed but not before I hear very faintly Mikado say a word, 'Persona'. They all fainted and the rest was history. I talked with all of them afterword and Mikado and Tsubaki wanted to start something, a group that would prevent something like this from happening ever again. That's why the disciplinary committee was born. I didn't think you guys knew about Persona so I didn't really want to say anything…I'll make sure that Tsubaki picks up your kids as they turn into persona users."

Naoto, being the logical one, decided to clarify a few things, "One, Why were we" See indicated the investigation team, "informed? Two, how does their power work? And three, how is it activated?"

Souji scratched his chin for a little bit then his eyes lit up, "I didn't inform anyone because we can't help them. We went back to the temple gate but only the kids could enter the area. I couldn't ever though we both have persona. I don't really know how their power works but I think it stems from Nicaea. My guess is that the only prerequisite is that you have to be the child of a persona user. Tsubaki and Mikado refused to tell me the details of what happened with Fuu but I weeded my way in as their club advisor under the threat that I would reveal everything."

Minato spoke up, "This means that we can't interfere. This is their journey, their adventure and we can't interfere. For now we must act like we know nothing although we can set up counter measures. I'll enroll Aigis into the school."

"Aigis?" Asked Chie.

"Our anti-shadow humanoid female robot. She is in the slow process of becoming human and has just started aging."

Souji also spoke up, "I think I'll enroll Teddie."

The giant teddy bear who was rolled up in the corner, crying that he had been forgotten in the ensuing chaos perked up at his name being called.

Junpei stared skeptically, "How are you going to enroll that…thing?"

Kanji walked over and promptly ripped off the top half of Teddie's outer shell revealing a beautiful teenage boy.

Junpei shut up and Mitsuru continued, "I'll move out here for now. This gives me a perfect excuse to start a local revitalization project."

"What do you mean by 'revitalization'?" Asked Kanji.

"You'll see…" Mitsuru trailed off making everyone in the room sweatdrop.

Junpei, looking rather tired out by this spoke up saying, "Look I don't know about you but this stuff is insane. I'm going to have a nice long drink then go to sleep."

Surprisingly everyone else agreed and everyone left most under a sake induced haze exhausted by the night's events.

* * *

A/N: Sorry if this chapter sucked but I promise with this background out of the way things will start getting interesting. Also if you're wondering I didn't really got into too much detail with the P3 and P4 story lines because I think it would awkward for some people to reveal things like what their shadows were like or Ken almost shooting Shinjiro. Worry not, if things about the kid's persona or Nicaea showing up in a persona story don't make sense it will most be explained next chapter. This is not a Devil Survivor 2 crossover by the way. Please review. I need your feedback ASAP so I can improve. Next chapter I'll start putting up character profile and whatnot as I start introducing the true main character(s). If you're interested I got the name for the last section of the chapter from the video game of the same name.


	4. Death sends a text message

A/N: Welcome! Now begins the true story. Also thanks for the reviews. For the confusion over Souji's name, I'll be going back and fixing the chapters making sure that it reads souji instead of Seta. Sorry about that.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise!

Chapter 4: Death sends a text message

* * *

_Nicaea, a dead face delivery site  
_25 years ago, Nicaea's tagline  
In a parallel universe

_How can we go on a quest to regenerate the world if we can't even save the people standing right in front of us?_  
Lloyd Irving, Arguing morality  
Sylvarant

* * *

April 4th, 2034 7:00 AM  
Amagi Inn, Inaba  
_The Fool's Morning_

Minako quickly kicked her shoes on as she ran out of the house, a piece of toast hanging limply between her teeth.

"I'm going!" She yelled into the lobby area to her mom who was manning the front desk although due to the toast it sounded more like, " I'f gofing."

Walking at a leisurely pace, Minako's thought flew back to her dream of the Velvet Room. Her musing was interrupted by Nagato and Yuki Hanamura, the twin children of Yosuke and Chie who were first years at high school. As usual, they were bickering.

"Nagato, you try to blow up one more toilet I'm going to kill you!"

"You'd have catch me first Yuki!"

"Hmph, as if you could run away from me on those sticks you call legs. A three-legged dog could run faster."

"Whatever! You still won't catch me until you pull that stick out your-"

Minako tapped the arguing siblings on shoulder saying, "Good morning."

"Oh, good morning. I didn't even notice you." Said Yuki amicably. Yuki was the sister of the pair, known for her studiousness and athletic ability although many people found the fact that she was actually smart somewhat surprising because her parents had both been idiots in high school.

Nagato quickly followed suit saying, "Good morning. How are you?"

Nagato on the other hand was known for his lack of both of his sister's qualities. He was an idiot through and through. His hair was sticking up in random spots and some parts of his face looked rather darkened like a mini-explosive had gone off in his face. Although if a bomb had went off in his face no one would have been surprised.

The three continued walking towards school catching up on the latest news and talking about the school year, the whole conversation interspersed with Nagato and Yuki arguing with each other. This continued until they saw a figure rolling around in a trash can on the side of the road.

It was calling out, "Hello, hello, can anyone hear me? I could use some help here. Anyone…anyone."

The three quickly went over and pulled the trash can off of the squirming figure to reveal a young man with white hair that had red tips.

"Um.. hello." He said, looking rather embarrassed, "Sorry you had to see me like that. I'm Takeharu Kirijo, a trans-"

Suddenly a scream emitted from Yuki that could have shattered bullet proof glass and her eyes lit up in a way that made anime characters look plain by comparison. After the three of them checked if their ears were bleeding, Nagato with a rather pained look on his face asked, "Ok…so who is this guy?"

"WHO IS THIS GUY! Seriously! You don't know!" Ranted Yuki.

"Um…I don't think I would be asking you if I knew now." Responded Nagato, his voice inflecting enough sarcasm to cut a boulder in half.

"He's the national boxing champion! He won last year with practically no effort, destroyed the competition and has the world record for fastest knock-out in the entire high school boxing level. How could you not know him!"

"Look sis, if I have to stare at something shirtless and sweaty I prefer it to be something of the opposite gen-"

*Whack* Yuki nailed Nagato in between the legs and he fell quipping, "Critical hit to the nads…"

While Yuki was berating Nagato, Minako turned to Takeharu asking, "So you were saying?"

"Oh yeah. While I found out this morning that I'm attending Yasogami High for the year and I have no idea how to get to the school so I was looking for students from the school who knew how to get there. I accidently tripped into the trash can you pulled me out of so I've was stuck in there waiting for someone to pull me out. So can you give me directions to the school?"

"You can just come with us." Said Minako with a cheery face.

After helping Nagato stand again, the four set off. Yuki, of course, had a question for the famous boxing star, "Why do you and your dad have your mom's last name? I mean, don't people usual do the opposite and take the husband's last name?"

Takeru, with a face that said 'this is a question people have asked hundreds of times' said, "My mom's the head of the Kirijo group. If she took Dad's last name then she would lose her position as the Kirijo's group CEO. Her last name is quote unquote more important than Dad's."

Minako backed him up, "Same for my parents. That's why Dad took mom's last name. The inn had to stay as the Amagi inn."

"Oh…"

By the time the four of them had finished talking, they had reached the school building and the group quickly split up to find their classrooms.

* * *

April 4th 2034, 8:00 AM  
Yasogami High, Room 2-2  
_Another Transfer Student?_

Minako quickly sat in her seat as her dad and homeroom teacher, Souji Amagi began class.

"Today we have two new transfer students. Please come in."

The door opened and the two transfer students, a boy and girl, walked in and stood in front of the class. Souji introduced the girl first, "The girl is Aigis. Let's see what the file says…"he continued reading from the file verbatim although he sounded more and more confused as he read, "She is an…anti-shadow weapon created 36 years ago as part of a secret military project…What the heck? This file must be a prank or something…Anyways," He turned to the guy, "This is Teddie. Let's see if the file was right this time. He is a shadow from the TV world who created his current body out of sheer force of will after blowing up a demonic brothel. OKAY! Somebody's getting fired today!...Anyways please be kind to them. I'm going to office so homeroom is finished. Please don't leave until after the bell rings thank you."

With that he was out the door. Minako just sighed to herself and started spacing out.

"Minako. I need to talk to you."

"Huh…" She quickly snapped out of her dream-like haze and looked up to see her fellow class representive, Raidou Tatsumi. Raidou was famous at the school for getting Ms. Kashiwagi arrested and the students loved him for it. Although famous, he was a bit of a recluse who would take cases to find "things" for money. Nobody knew how he did it but the school gave him permission to carry both his rapier and pistol on him even though it was a school.

"Minako," Raidou said again, finally getting her attention, "Look we have class representative meetings tomorrow instead of homeroom okay? Also DO you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"No not really." She responded quickly

"The teachers sent me to go interrogate Nagato Hanamura about the various pranks he pulled yesterday at school but he I know he'll deny anything I ask. Any advice?"

She pointed to the sword at his waist, "You carry that thing for a reason right?"

Raidou just smiled wickedly.

* * *

April 4th 2034, 11:40 AM  
Yasogami High, Room 1-3  
_Cutting Lies_

Chihiro Arisato sat at her desk eating her lunch quietly. Chihiro was quiet and demure. She ran the school's library, was the disciplinary committee's newest member, and she had to beat the horde of boys who wanted to date her with a yardstick. Chihiro was one of the schools idols. Boys across the grades worshipped her, much to her chagrin. So today she sat alone trying her best not to look conspicuous. She watched as Nagato Hanamura raised a ruckus on the other side of the room and sighed. _Idiot._

He was practically yelling, "And that is how I got the podium to collapse without the teacher noticing."

Of course they all laughed and patted him on the back. He stole a glance at Chihiro and whispered to his friends and the whole pack of them moved over to where she was sitting.

"Hey, Chihiro, want to go on a date? C'mon I know you love me." Spoke Nagato in a totally overdone voice.

Chihiro sighed and said, "Look, for the thousandth time, no. Please leave me alone."

"Oh c'mon don't be like that girl."

"The name's Chihiro if you can even get that through your thick skull."

"Ohh…She's a feisty one." He winked to his friends and they all started laughing, so loud that they didn't notice Raidou Tatsumi walk through the door. The expression when he saw the scene before him was beyond upset. He quickly walked over to Nagato's group and tapped him on the shoulder. Nagato turned to find one very mad, armed detective standing before him.

"Nagato, we need to talk."

All of Nagato's friends quickly scattered, scared out of their minds of the armed detective.

"A-about what?" He whimpered.

" The school hired me to find evidence of you pulling pranks and you're going to spill your guts in front of the teachers for me."

"Or what?" Nagato quickly regained his confidence, "You have no proof."

"You're right." Conceded Raidou, "but if you don't fess up I'll charge you with sexual harassment of a fellow student."

Chihiro grinned and spoke up, "If you'd like Raidou, I can testify on your behalf in front of the teachers. I know the whole story or all his pranks."

Nagato laughed, "Right like that'd fly. Look, Mr. false detective beat it. If you remember I have a whole gang of friends who will vouch for me. They won't be able to over look that."

Raidou was practically shaking in fury, "FALSE DETECTIVE! You little brat!" he cooled down a little bit then noticed something, "I don't see your friends behind you."

Deciding the time for words was over, he grabbed the sheath of his sword, tripped Nagato with it, grabbed the back of his uniform, and dragged him out the door, threatening him about human target practice.

Suddenly the PA system came on, "Discplinary committee members please report to room 3-2. Also Minako Amagi please report to room 3-2. Thank you."

* * *

April 4th 2034, 11:50 PM  
Yasogami High, Room 3-2  
_Purpose_

Minako sat in the disciplinary committee room waiting for instruction. Even though only students who were in trouble were ever sent to this room she wasn't worried too much as the committee head, Tsubaki Iori, was a close friend of hers. Both Mikado and Tsubaki sat in chairs and were waiting for something to happen. Suddenly the door opened and Chihiro walked in sitting next to Tsubaki. Then Mikado finally began speaking, "First of all don't worry we're not here to punish you because you obviously haven't done anything and we don't need you testify against a classmate either."

Minako curious asked, "So what do you need me here for?"

"We're saving your life." Deadpanned Mikado.

"Wait, what?"

"Look." Said Tsubaki starting to explain, "We've been warned that you are going to die in about five minutes but by inviting you here we have prevented that. Here look." Tsubaki took out here cell phone and showed her messages from a sender named Nicaea. It was a series of three images. The first picture showed Minako fetching something from room 3-2 at the request of her father; the second picture showed her opening the door; the last picture showed her dead sprawled on the floor. Minako instantly felt sick to her stomach.

Chihiro spoke up, "Nicaea can predict your death and send warning of it. By what happens we can change the future. Since we changed the past of the first two pictures the future should be different."

Mikado finished up for her, "The true purpose of the disciplinary committee is to save the lives of the people who show up in the texts. However since you have seen this, you now have no choice but to join the committee. I'm sorry but if word got out of this, people would think we were crazy."

Minako, too shell-shocked that she'd almost died just nodded numbly.

Suddenly, a ringing noise sounded from the center of the room and there was a bright flash of light. "What's going on?" Minako yelled at them.

Her only response was Mikado yelling, "Minako close your eyes!"

She complied and the world faded into darkness.

* * *

A/N: I'm evil aren't I? Are you confused? Good. Have questions? Save them for after the next chapter but still review. This chapter spotlights some of the main characters so let me know what you think.

Next Chapter: one word: PERSONA!


	5. Gathering of the Unwilling

A/N: Finally the action starts. At the end of this chapter I'll be putting up some character info for the kids and will continue to do so until all of them have been introduced. Also I noticed that my view counter shot up from 400 to over 700 yet not one person left a review. Am I that bad of an author? Wait did you take my save your questions until after this chapter? If you did I'm sorry. I didn't mean to not review. C'mon people I thrive off your reviews here. So throw me a bone here. Leave a review or two even if you just want to say hi or have a question.

Disclaimer: I don't own SMT. Altus does.

Chapter 5: Gathering of the Unwilling

* * *

_Your transformation is not a disease. You were just given the key to the door in front of you. There's no need to know the cause. No need for sorrow or sadness. What comes next is up to you. You can use your keys to open the door...or lock it tight. And if you do choose to open it...you can still decide not to pass through._

Kisuke Urahara, Explaining to them about their new powers  
2001, Fall

_...I've made up my mind. I'll do as much as I can with my power. ...For my sake, as well as the sake of others._

Fuuka Yamagishi, Finding a resolution that changed Lucia into Juno  
October 20th, 2008

* * *

Time: Unknown  
Location: Unknown  
_Awakening_

Minako opened her eyes to find herself in classroom 3-2, much to her surprise. At least it looked the same to her. However, something felt off. Then she realized it, there was no noise. The room was absolutely silent. It was never quiet at school, especially at lunch. There were no sounds of people eating, talking, or walking. It was pure, unadultured silence. Then, much to her surprise, Tsubaki, Mikado, and Chihiro appeared out of thin air, Tsubaki carrying short sword with a whip at her waste and Mikado carrying a glaive. She quickly walked over to them, asking, "What's going on? Where are we?"

Tsubaki was about to answer but was cut off by a shout for Mikado, "Save it, incoming shadow!"

As if to confirm his statement, an unearthly roar, ripped through the otherwise silent room. A dark blob of a creature burst through one of the doors. It looked like a **black mass of sludge** but it had eight arms protruding from it. There was a mask on its face with the roman numeral one etched into it.

Mikado quickly snapped out orders, "We can't fight here. Everyone out the other door!"

Everyone snapped to it and quickly escaped out of the other door into the hallway. The shadow soon followed them using its mass to crush the wall and slide out into the hallway. The monstrous creature stood ready, its eight arms moving in a frantic pattern.

"Chihiro, I need info on the shadow. Tsubaki take point. I'll provide support. Minako stay behind Chihiro."

"Seek and ye shall find, Cygnus!" Chihiro yelled. Behind her appeared a beautiful woman in a white feather dress. Two giant wings furrowed out from her back. Chihiro started the analysis, "Okay, all I know right now is that it's of the magician's arcana. I'll keep scanning to find weaknesses."

Tsubaki charged the creature, sword at the ready. In response the shadow took a swing at Tsubaki with one of its right arms. Pivoting gracefully, she sliced downwards severing the arm. Tsubaki now had the shadows full attention as it roared in pain. Mikado used the distraction and started to flank the shadow on the right. Trying to keep the pressure, Tsubaki quickly slashed the shadow's body and back stepped a few times, keeping her eyes on the enemy. Now fully upset, the shadow charged straight at her, which was exactly what Mikado had been waiting for. Mikado ran straight at the shadow, jumped up in the air, smashed the glaive into the back of the shadow's massive body and using his momentum, landed right behind Tsubaki. The shadow slumped to the ground.

"The weakness is fire!" Chihiro said with a loud shout, "Use agi skills."

Minako had been confused by this whole event but after that phrase, she just gave up trying to understand. _It'll probably be explained to me later._ She thought to herself.

Tsubaki took over, "Rise from the ashes, Phoenix!"

In response are giant red bird appeared behind Tsubaki's back and waved its wings. A gout of flame erupted from the shadow and its body dispersed into same particles of darkness and disappeared.

Mikado walked back over to Minako, Tsubaki following close behind him.

"And with that," Mikado said smugly, "The closed space should disappear."

But it didn't. Five, ten, fifteen seconds later and they were still standing there waiting for the space to close. Suddenly a wave of energy exploded outward from down the hallway they were in. Then in a wreath of red flames a man walked out. He strode confidently, his mouth twisted in an arrogant smirk. He was tall and muscular. His eyes were scarlet and he had a scraggly mane of bushy red hair. His shirt and long pants were both extremely tattered on the edges and the vest he was wearing wasn't in better conditions. In one arm he held a wicked looking one sided battle axe and the other hand was at his side. He spoke up his voice harsh and arrogant, "So you're the persona users, huh? Well I'm under orders to have you killed or otherwise maimed. So prepare to die."

Although everyone was stunned by this, Tsubaki was the first to take action. She charged, trying to close the gap between the two groups into order to protect Chihiro and Minako. Tsubaki swung her sword but the fiery man caught the blade on the handle of his axe. The man lodged Tsubaki's sword between the axe blade and handle. With a quick twirl of his axe he disarmed her and then punched her in the stomach, sending her back a few feet where she fell down, clutching her stomach. Mikado charged forward. The man tried to block but was stopped by Tsubaki who had caught his hand with her whip. The fiery man just yanked his wrist and threw Tsubaki into Mikado. At this point Minako was surprised to find herself not panicking. With resolve she walked forward, picking up Tsubaki's sword. Quietly she whispered one word, "Persona."

Then a voice rang in her head. _I am thou and thou art I. I am Andromeda, the unchained queen._

Minako ran at the man, Andromeda hovering behind her. Andromeda swung her arms, chains rattling. Much to the man's surprise, his axe wielding arm froze. To his further surprise, Minako chopped off his frozen arm. Instead of blood flowing out of his arm, a gout of flame rushed out reforming into a new arm. Before either one could make a move, a wall of ice appeared between them and Minako was sure that she didn't summon it. Standing next to the fiery man was another man although he appeared to younger. His eyes were blindfolded and a katana was strapped to his waist. Unlike his fiery companion his demeanor was as frigid as a glacier.

"Dubhe, you have orders to retreat and fall back."

"Merak! Curse you! I can still fight!"

"Don't kill the messenger. I have orders so let's go."

"Hmph, Girl tell your friends over there that if they don't toughen up they'll met there end personally from Dubhe, the Scarlet Axe of the Septentrion."

"Likewise, from Merak, the Azure Blade of the Septentrion."

With that the two disappeared in a flash of flame and ice. Blinking, Minako collasped only barely registering Chihiro yelling at her.

* * *

Time: Unknown  
Velvet Room  
_Level Up_

Igor grinned his trademark grin. _Looks like the girl is back_. _Everything is going according to plan. A fight for man's hopes and dreams._ _Man has regained life and truth; now can they regain their dreams?_ He thought to himself.

Igor watched as she blinked a couple times, got her bearings, and then focus on him. He took that as his cue to begin his usual thought provoking psychobabble, "Welcome back. I told you that you would return when you had signed a contract, you have returned."

Minako blinked a couple more times and then spoke up, "Wait, I signed a contract?"

Igor nodded and then pointed to the ceiling, saying, "Watch the screen, it should explain."

Both his chair and her chair tilted just enough to get a comfortable view of the scene and the screen flickered into action

_Chihiro spoke up, "Nicaea can predict your death and send warning of it. By what happens we can change the future. Since we changed the past of the first two pictures the future should be different."_

_Mikado finished up for her, "The true purpose of the disciplinary committee is to save the lives of the people who show up in the texts. However since you have seen this, you now have no choice but to join the committee. I'm sorry, but if word got out about this, people would think we were crazy."_

_Minako, so shell-shocked that she'd almost died, just nodded numbly._

"Remember now? By making this contract, you have gained ability to enter the Velvet Room whenever you please. My assistant and I should be able to help you with your Persona powers. So here is your proof of entry. I bestow upon you the velvet key." A shining blue key descended onto her lap. "Now I need to tell you about something else. Your power is the power of the wild card. You are one of the few persona users who can use multiple personas which means you gain power in a different way than most people. You can get stronger through two methods. One, you can fuse personas together. Right now you only have Andromeda but later you will find yourself gaining other personas. By fusing them you can unlock new powers. The other method involves something called social links. Persona is a power of bonds, bonds you form with your friends and acquaintances. By strengthening these bonds you strengthen your Persona. The next time you come here it will be of your own volition. Farewell."

With that Minako was transported out. Theodore looked down at Igor concerned.

"Are you sure she's the one? The one who can give mankind their freedom?"

"I'm more sure of her than any other person I've invited so far. Her trials and tribulations may be greater than any ever before seen but this one, she, she is strong." Igor smirked, his victory was assured.

* * *

April 4th 2034, 3:00 PM  
Nurse's Office, Yasogami High School, Inaba  
_Welcome to The World_

Minako awoke with a start quickly sitting up in her bed, only to fall straight back down again after slamming Tsubaki who was above her, in the head. After getting an ice pack from Chihiro, the three members of the disciplinary committee sat next to her bed.

Mikado started, "First off, I'd like to apologize. I had no idea a closed space would open in that room. Second, thank you for saving our lives. Third, any questions?"

Minako stared blankly for a few seconds and then snapped her fingers as if she had found inspiration.

"Can you just explain everything? Shadows, closed space, Personas, Septentrions, Nicaea."

Tsubaki started, "First I'll explain closed space and how it's manifested". Closed space can best be described as a seam in reality that is created by stress. Two types of stress can be used. The first is the stress from many different people with the same stress. For example today's closed space was most like the stress of people going back to school. The other type is someone completely losing it emotionally. Now people get sucked into closed space in three different ways. One, if the closed space opened on top of you, you'll get sucked in. Two, if your emotions go haywire you get sucked in. The last way is if you have the power of Persona which you now do. Making sense so far?"

Minako nodded and Tsubaki continued her explanation, "Shadows are manifestations of people's negative emotions. They can be big or small, have a variety of different colors and although they have a basic understanding of battle strategy, they aren't very smart. More than one can appear in a closed space so we have to be careful. Now I'll explain how to close closed space. Sounds redundant right? If you defeat the shadows in the closed space then it will disappear. This is only true with the first type though. The second type however won't close. On the other hand only people with persona can access it so as long as we get the people out of the closed space in time, we're good. The second type of closed space is run by a special shadow known as a dream eater. A dream eater is the manifestation of one's doubts about a person's hopes and dream. These shadows will mentally assault the person who created the closed space until the person give into the shadow and the shadow gains power killing the creator. It is then free to wreck havoc on the world. Luckily for us that hasn't happened, yet."

Mikado picked up for Tsubaki, "Now most normal people gain persona by denying their dream eater and gaining the resolve to strive for their dream. All three of us gained our persona like this. You're an exception but I don't want to dwell on it. Now about Nicaea. Nicea is a website that only people who have the potential to use persona can access. By signing up for it, we are warned of a friend's death through three pictures and if we prevent that then were in the clear. We theorize that your death was supposed to be caused by you venturing into that closed space alone. Looking back on the whole incident, if we had had our meeting in a different room , none of this would have happened. About the Septentrions, we know nothing about them."

This caught Minako off guard but when she thought about the way everyone had reacted in the closed space somehow it didn't surprise her.

Chihiro took the last part of explanation, "As for why this is happening, well to be honest, we don't know that either. We figure if we keep trying to remove closed spaces, we can solve the problems as they come."

Mikado spoke up, "So, can we expect your help?"

"Definitely." Minako responded with a deep resolve

With that decision, the sound of glass breaking sounded in her head followed by a voice _I am though and though art I. You have formed a new link, the bond of the fool. _

A rush of power flowed through Minako's veins and she only nodded. After helping her up, the group departed each tired with only rest on their mind.

[Fool: LV 1]

* * *

A/N: and cut! Yes, I am doing social links although I retain the right to shorten some of the links at will. Since I'm not always going to write from the perspective of Minako I'll have social link rank ups on the bottom of the section. Brownie points for those who catch the references to other video game and anime series. If you do catch them point them out. Now please remember to read and review. (Author sobs quietly in a corner then suddenly gets pulled up and slapped.)

Mikado: Pull yourself together!

Me: What and why are you here? You're my character!

Mikado: Dude, it's fanfiction. Anything's possible, what did you expect?

Me (sarcastically): Oh, I don't know. For characters not to break the fourth wall!

Mikado: Dude, you're writing it

Me:…Oh yeah… (Enters a catatonic state)

Mikado: Well as Shiro pulls himself together here are some character bios. Oh a note is attached. 'I will give some information but I hold the right to withhold certain information whether it's a measurement or spoiler.'

Mikado Arisato

Age: 18

Phys: Has dark bluish hair with matching eyes. 5' 5"

Personality: Rather quiet and easily embarrassed. The only thing he has is convictions about sticking by his morals. Well liked by everyone.

Backstory: He's the male class rep of 3-3 and student body president.

Abilities: Wild Card weapons

Persona: ?

Inspiration: His name comes from Durarara's main character, Ryuugamine Mikado. I needed a 'normal' person here in the story, so here he is.

Chihiro Arisato

Age: 15

Phys: Has brown hair with teal eyes. Wears glasses 5' 6"

Personality: Quiet, demure, and peaceful, she's always willing to help those in need and never gets depressed or disappointed. She's also very knowledgeable.

Backstory: She picked up the skills of a librarian from her mother and is now the school's library head. Her beauty and overall good personality have brought the school more donations and checked out books than ever before in school history. She's in class 1-3.

Abilities: Sensory

Persona: Cygnus

Inspiration: Named after the P3 social link character of the justice arcane. I personally think that if Minato didn't get together with any of the persona using girls he should have gotten with her.


End file.
